TLI Staff
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday approved a proposal to alter the name of the State of Kerala to ‘Keralam’, setting in motion the constitutional process under Article 3 for effecting the change.
Following the Cabinet’s decision, the President will refer the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 to the Kerala Legislative Assembly for expressing its views, as mandated under the proviso to Article 3 of the Constitution. After receiving the Assembly’s views, the Union government will seek the President’s recommendation for introduction of the Bill in Parliament.
Resolution passed on June 24, 2024
Legislative Assembly of Kerala passed a resolution on June 24, 2024 to alter the name of the State of “Kerala” to “Keralam”, which is as under:
“The name of our State is ‘Keralam’ in Malayalam Language. States were formed on the basis of language on the 1st day of November, 1956. The Kerala Piravi Day is also on the 1st day of November. Since the time of National Independence Struggle, there has been a strong demand for the formation of United Kerala for the people speaking Malayalam language. But in the First Schedule to the Constitution the name of our State is recorded as ‘Kerala’. This Assembly unanimously appeal to the Central Government to take urgent steps as per Article 3 of the Constitution for modifying the name as ‘Keralam’.”
The move comes in the wake of a unanimous resolution passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly on June 24, 2024, urging the Centre to amend the First Schedule to the Constitution to reflect the State’s name as ‘Keralam’ — the Malayalam rendering — instead of ‘Kerala’.
Going back to the roots
The resolution noted that States were reorganised on linguistic basis on November 1, 1956, a date commemorated as Kerala Piravi Day, and recalled the long-standing demand since the national movement for a unified State for Malayalam-speaking people.
Article 3 empowers Parliament to alter the name of any State by law. However, no such Bill can be introduced without the President’s recommendation and unless it has been referred to the concerned State Legislature for its views within a specified period.
The proposal was examined by the Ministry of Home Affairs and, after approval by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, circulated to the Department of Legal Affairs and the Legislative Department in the Ministry of Law and Justice. Both departments concurred with the proposal.
The renaming, once approved by Parliament, will require an amendment to the First Schedule of the Constitution to substitute ‘Kerala’ with ‘Keralam’.